


The Price of Vengeance

by MarsDragon



Category: Fatal Fury
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:27:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28402473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarsDragon/pseuds/MarsDragon
Summary: Terry and Rock, looking at the stars and thinking about revenge.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Terry

"He's not yours."

Geese stood in the centre of his tower and spread his arms, all of Southtown laid out around him.

"I'm in his blood, and blood cannot be denied. Not yours...and not mine."

"Shut up!" 

Terry ran at him, careless, throwing everything into one wild punch. He was caught and flung away, landing painfully on the hard floor. Geese loomed over him, face caught in that unchanging smile. 

"I could take him back at any time, fool. Who do you think the police would put him with, the well-respected pillar of the community or the murderous vagrant? Scum should know its place."

"I said _shut up_!"

Terry lashed out as he scrambled to his feet, desperate for any sort of advantage. The tower swirled around him, statues and torches blurring together, but through it all he only saw his target. He rushed at Geese again, they traded blows, they separated, they ran back to each other. Around and around, circling each other as they circled the tower, a wheel that kept turning.

Until they faced each other one last time. The smooth wooden floor stretched between them, short as breath, long as eternity, and both of them knew. This was the moment that would decide everything. 

"I don't care! I'm gonna take care of him! And I'll make sure he never ends up like you!"

Terry reached out and gathered up everything - the pain, the rage, the desperate, helpless need to break free - everything he had and more and slammed it into the ground, pushing beyond his limits to unleash a furious blast of energy, an explosion that raced toward Geese and he just kept feeding it, more and more, the world blurring into light -

And then he was balanced on the edge of the tower, holding to Geese's wrist with all he had. There was no ground. They hung on the edge of an abyss.

Geese's fixed smile was a skull's, terrible and knowing.

"Shouldn't you be more afraid he'll end up like you?"

He laughed all the way down. 

Terry's heart hammered in failure as his hand grasped around nothing, and he opened his eyes. 

He'd half sat up before he realised when and where he was. It was a warm night, peaceful, with crickets chirping around them. Right, them. Rock was still curled up right next to him, exactly where he'd been when Terry had dozed off. One arm was twisted up under him like a pillow, and he was drooling all over it. It was cute.

A bit of Terry's heart unclenched at the sight. Geese was gone. Rock was still here. Everything was...fine.

He settled back with a sigh, resting his head on his hands. The stars glittered above him, more than you'd ever see in Southtown. Pretty. Distant. Cold.

He should, he knew, pick Rock up and get going. He hadn't _promised_ , as of such, that he'd make sure the kid always slept with a roof over his head - Terry knew better than to make promises he couldn't keep - but he'd nodded along when Andy and Mary had given him the Very Serious Lecture about His Responsibilities As A Father like he didn't already know. And, well...Terry had spent enough time sleeping outdoors that he didn't want to put Rock through it too. Rock would have a better life than Terry had gotten. That was, in a sense, the deal.

He wasn't all that tired. He could make it to the next town, easy, even without someone being nice enough to pick up a hitchhiker. He could do it.

Terry lay there, staring at the stars.

Geese's forever fixed smile hovered somewhere behind his eyes. 

_"He's not yours."_

"Piss off, you're dead," he whispered. No point in waking up Rock.

Geese's laughter floated on the breeze. 

He knew it wouldn't work. He knew he was going to spend every night for the rest of his life on Geese Tower. He'd known that as soon as Geese had let go. That was price of vengeance: having to live with the consequences.

When he was a kid, he'd laughed at Master Tung's warning. He'd been sure, so damn sure, that nothing was worse than what he'd felt watching his father die at Geese's hands. Ten years had hardened that resolve into an unbreakable determination, one that let him overcome every obstacle in his way. And when he'd headed back to the Pao Pao Cafe that night, he'd felt free. Happy. Finally ready to start living his life.

And then...he'd started living his life. And part of that life was seeing Geese's face when he'd fallen off the tower the first time, that look of sheer, disbelieving terror. Part of it was looking at kids playing in the street and remembering what he'd been like at that age. Part of it was realising the orphan he'd picked up was an orphan because of him. 

The price of vengeance....

Rock snuffled in his sleep and rolled over. "Terry?" he mumbled.

"Yeah? What's up?"

Rock didn't answer for a bit, just wiggled and squirmed until he was all tucked up under Terry's vest and watching the stars. He stared at them so long Terry wondered if he'd forgotten the question.

One of his arms shot up and pointed to a fuzzy blob of stars. "Which constellation's that?"

"Um..." Terry squinted at the black line of Rock's arm and the scattered lights above them. Damnit, he'd never been good at this. People talked about navigating by the stars but as far as Terry Bogard was concerned that was what highway signs and roadmaps were for. "Well...Uncle Andy might know better, but, uh, if that's the Big Dipper over there and Orion's thatta way...then, uh...I dunno," he picked a constellation at random, "Aries?" Had to be in the sky somewhere, that's where the daily horoscope came from.

Rock seemed satisfied with the answer. "When we get to town," he said, still watching the sky, "let's go to the library and get aaaaaaaall the books about stars."

"All of them? That's a lot."

"All of them! Then we can read them and know everything there is to know." He snuggled down deeper into Terry's vest.

Terry felt a fond smile tug at his lips. "I remember when Andy thought like you. It was right after dad took us camping up at Barbaroi Falls for the first time. He realised how many stars there were and went a little nuts trying to learn more." Terry, personally, had been overwhelmed looking at them and spent the entire time trying hide it so he could keep looking cool in front of Andy. 

It had been a night a lot like this one, really, warm and quiet, but with the rushing of the falls in the background instead of crickets. Jeff had treated camping as Something Dads Did - looking back on it, Terry doubted his father had been outside city limits in decades - but he'd gotten into the swing of things. They'd lit a fire and roasted marshmallows, then sat there looking at the stars for hours before going to bed. Then in the morning they'd gotten up before dawn and hiked over to the falls proper just as the sun was coming over the horizon - the dawn reflected on the water was one of Terry's most beautiful memories, even now.

_"He's not yours."_

Terry jerked against the sudden chill down his spine and took a slow look over to see if Rock had noticed. The kid was still staring at the sky, entranced.

"Do you know, Terry," he said, "that when you're dead you go to the sky and become a star? To watch over people on Earth?"

"You got that out of a movie."

"Well - well that doesn't mean it's not true!" Piece said, Rock pointed at the sky again. "That one."

Terry moved closer to try and figure out what Rock was pointing at this time. "That one?"

"I bet that's my mom, because it's friendly." Rock kept going, unaware of the way Terry stiffened beside him. This kid... "And that one's your dad," he said, pointing at another nearby star. "Because it's strong. Do you think they know each other?"

"Sure," Terry said around the lump in his throat, "I bet they get along great."

Rock nodded solemnly. "And Geese isn't up there," he said with conviction. "Because bad guys don't go to heaven."

 _Yeah, they stay right down here with the rest of us bastards,_ Terry thought. He could hear Geese's laughter again, carried on the breeze. It was never too far away. 

Was it...okay, for him and Rock to be like this? Sure, Rock didn't like Geese, but...but he was still running around with his father's - Terry forced himself to think the word - his father's murderer. Terry was doing his best, and Rock seemed happy, but...

_"Shouldn't you be more afraid he'll end up like you?"_

Rock had cuddled up and was resting his head on Terry's shoulder, his breath stirring Terry's shirt. He was still looking at the stars, but his eyes were drooping closed. Pretty soon he'd be out again. 

Was this okay? Someday, would Rock realise what he was doing and decide to take revenge for the father who had abandoned him? If blood couldn't be denied...

Terry wouldn't be able to say he didn't deserve it. He hadn't been able to say it to Billy, and he wouldn't be able to say it to Rock. He'd made his choices, and now he had to live with that.

It wasn't as if he'd been able to ignore Geese's special invitation, after all. He'd come in, guns blazing, and gone to the tower ready to settle everything for good. And then...

He didn't know why he'd raced to grab Geese's hand. He hadn't thought about it. One second he was dizzy in the aftermath of his own power, the next he was hanging over the edge.

He didn't know why Geese had let go, either. He had glimpses, a strange sense of understanding after so many battles...sometimes, when the ghost's gaze got particularly heavy, he could almost get it. Terry had been thinking about it every day and while he wasn't some expert human analyst like Mary, he thought he could map out the edges. An intoxicating cocktail of pride and bitterness, cruelty and independence...

But nothing would make his heart understand hating someone so much you'd die just to spite them. 

Walking up to Geese Tower the first time, filled with righteous anger...he'd been prepared to die. He'd accepted that with a grim fatalism he could never quite recapture afterwards. But those had been fanciful notions of sacrificing his life to personally escort Geese to hell, not...whatever had crawled into Geese's head. There was something living behind the eyes that haunted him even now, something terrible Terry didn't even want to understand.

That was what he wanted to keep away from Rock. Geese and him, both of them trapped in that miserable nightmare with no way out but death. What was even the point? 

The problem was, you could warn people as much as you wanted - Master Tung had sure tried with Terry - and they just wouldn't listen. 

Rock was completely asleep and drooling on Terry's shoulder. Terry pulled him close and sighed. The kid was pretty happy - or at least it seemed to so to Terry and Rock wasn't old enough to lie about that yet - but it felt unstable. Geese walked behind their every step and Terry couldn't forget that. Not ever. Maybe Rock could, but... "The hell am I supposed to do?" he muttered.

Above him, the stars Rock had pointed out twinkled silently.


	2. Rock

Rock laid on the soft, damp grass and watched the stars float above him. There were so many. They covered the sky with bright sparkles like you never saw in Southtown and looking at them, looking into the incredible vastness of space, made Rock feel small and exposed. He could just barely pick out the star he'd childishly decided represented his mom a year ago; it felt silly now he was big, but looking at it did make him feel a little better. 

He listened to the sound of the wind, the shifting of the grass, and Terry's quiet breathing. Terry didn't sound tired at all, which was kind of annoying. Rock was exhausted. He'd spent all day and night fighting Terry (even if it had mostly been him throwing wild punches and Terry blocking or dodging) so the least Terry could do was be out of breath. 

It was funny. He could clearly remember why he'd started fighting Terry, but it didn't seem important anymore. He was starting to think he hadn't really wanted to do it at all. 

The stars floated in the sky and Rock felt like he was floating too. The world felt quiet and calm, like all the fighting was far away. It was a good time to ask the question that had hung in the back of his mind and built up strange, confusing feelings in his chest until the only way he could let them out was with his fists. 

"Terry...why'd you kill my dad?"

The question disappeared into the night. The wind, the grass, and Terry all stayed on the quiet edge of hearing.

Maybe Terry hadn't heard him right. Rock asked again.

"Terry, why'd you-"

"I heard you."

Terry's voice didn't sound like normal. It sounded dark and tired and Rock started to regret asking the question. 

But it wasn't an answer, so he kept going because how else was he ever going to find out? Terry never talked about it and Rock wanted to know. Needed to know.

"Was it because he was evil?"

"No. Not really." Terry was quiet for a long time after that, but just before Rock started to ask for the real reason he let out a huge sigh and said, still dark and tired: "...he killed my dad."

_"You're the same as me... All right! From now on, I'll take care of you!"_

"And that's how we're the same, right? So that means..." He'd thought Terry had meant they were both orphans and that was it, kinda. He hadn't known how Terry was an orphan, though. 

Terry had killed Geese for his dad, so wasn't Rock obligated to do the same thing to Terry? 

The reply was immediate this time. "No-! That's- Look, Rock, I didn't know that then. And even so...I dunno how to say this, but-"

"Was your dad nice?"

"...yeah. He was the best."

"Geese was a jerk." Maybe you didn't have to avenge jerks, even if they were your last remaining blood relative.

"Yeah, he was. Look, it's like- If you want to train to defeat me, fine, I can't tell you not to. But I can tell you it's stupid and will waste your life and I wish you wouldn't."

"Why?" Rock did want to defeat Terry, someday. When he was big and strong like Terry. They'd fight each other like equals and Terry would say something like "from now on, you're my rival!" just like in the movies. Hearing Terry call it stupid kind of hurt.

"I just told you, it's stupid. It'll waste your life."

"But you're already training me. And someday, I'm gonna be as strong as you. So when we fight-"

"That's not it. Geez, I told you I didn't know how to say this." Terry sighed again. "It's not 'training' or 'becoming stronger'. That's all fine and good. But doing it for hate, for revenge...that eats you up inside. It makes you all cold and narrow and mean. It sucks and it drags everyone around down with you, and in the end all it does it make you another murderer." 

"Were you cold and narrow and mean?"

"For awhile, yeah."

Rock couldn't picture it. Terry had to be making it up to scare him. Mean Terry just didn't fit. 

He craned his neck over to look at Terry, just to see the dim figure sit up and turn to look at him. He couldn't see Terry's face at all under the moonlight, just the vague outlines of his clothes, but Terry's voice said everything. It was low and intense like Rock hadn't ever heard him before. 

"I just don't want you to have to go through what I did. That's all."

Rock didn't know what to say to that, so he curled up against the ground instead. Maybe asking hadn't been a good idea after all. It made Terry weird. 

There was a long pause and Rock kind of hoped the conversation was over and Terry would go back to normal. But then Terry spoke up again, still all dark and tired. "It's like this. After I fought Geese for the first time, Billy came looking for a fight. Said he was gonna kill me just like I'd killed Geese because fair's fair."

"Did he?"

"I'm still here, aren't I? But that's not the point. After that, I started to think. I couldn't say he was wrong when he was just trying to do what I did. And Billy's good. He could beat me someday, if he worked hard or I slacked off. And then Andy would fight him. And then...I dunno, Lily or someone would have to train, and beat Andy, and then Mai would get involved...it doesn't stop, you know? Everyone keeps fighting because they've lost someone and they just keep going and going until someone puts an end to it. And I decided that someone was gonna be me."

"Billy still doesn't like you." He'd caught up to them just a couple weeks ago, yelling and cursing. Terry had knocked him down and told him not to come back, then given Rock a long lecture about not using any of those words. 

"Yeah...I get him, though. Anyway, do you get what I'm trying to say?"

"I dunno. Maybe." He pictured Terry fighting Geese and Billy fighting Terry and Andy and Joe and Mai, all of them slowly spiraling down into the darkness. It wasn't a nice picture. Rock didn't want to be part of it. "Yeah, I guess," he said, and added: "And even if Billy doesn't like you, I do."

Terry laughed. "Glad to hear it, kid." He sounded normal again, and Rock was glad. The sky and the wind already felt warmer and friendlier. 

"Hey, Rock."

"Yeah?"

"I didn't mean to kill Geese. I tried to save him."

"But he still died."

"Yeah. He didn't want to be saved."

The words hung between them, floating through the quiet night. And Rock began to think.

He thought about the spiral of fighters, him and Terry and Geese, the sky, the field, the wind. Everything around him was so huge. It was all a big, swirling mess with him right in the middle where he didn't want to be.

_"Crissakes kid, what's wrong with you today? You want something?"_

Terry had asked him that earlier. Rock hadn't been able to come up with an answer at the time and had let his punch do the talking. Now it felt a lot more important. 

Why was he here? Why did he want to become strong?

'To be like Terry' was the easy answer, and it was absolutely true, but more than that... He didn't want to be like Geese, or like the guys Terry beat up. He wanted, in some indescribable way, to be better. Not to be defined by a father he didn't even like, or a bunch of past grudges someone else told him he should care about. To run to the edge of sky and past it, further and further, until he found what was on the other side.

And when he got there...well, he'd worry about that then.

**Author's Note:**

> "Listen kid whose dad I just killed, revenge is only cool when _I_ do it, okay?"
> 
> Ah, Terry, you're so lucky Geese was a dick. 
> 
> Rock attacking Terry in revenge for Geese as happening a year after they met and started travelling together is from the backstory on the old Garou homepage, archived [here](https://web.archive.org/web/20010210192000/http://www.neogeo.co.jp/garou/story/story_bs2.html). Rock originally didn't care, then got a feeling so complicated, then fought Terry and decided he didn't care after all because seriously, Geese was a dick. 
> 
> "You're an orphan, same as me... All right! From now on, I'll take care of you!" is the Japanese version of Terry's "Enough of this senseless fighting! Let's be friends. Call me, pop, son!" line to Rock in FF3. Terry did, in fact, adopt a kid because he was an orphan and then set out to keep him that way.
> 
> I don't know how well this all holds together as a fic, but I wanted to mess around with the character dynamics here. And I was thinking about the kinds of awkward questions kids ask their parents and realised that Rock had a doozy.


End file.
